India to take its first Turkish DAP cargo in a decade

A trading firm is sourcing a 40,000t cargo for an Indian buyer, scheduled to ship on 15-20 July.

A freight enquiry is circulating to transport 40,000t of DAP from the northern Turkish port of Samsun to the Indian port of Pipavav, in the western state of Gujarat.

This will be the first DAP cargo to load from Turkey to India in the past 10 years, as firm offers and a lack of availability from Chinese suppliers force trading firms and buyers taking product to India to look for sources west of the country. Indian importers have now sourced DAP from Morocco, Russia, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to the west, as well as China and Australia to the east.

Chinese suppliers have held DAP offers in the mid-to-high-$300s/t fob and above in recent weeks, but an increase in freight rates is pressuring Indian cfr levels upwards. Chinese suppliers report a lack of product available for shipment in June, supporting prices.

There are only four Chinese cargoes scheduled to arrive in India next month, accounting for just 211,000t of the total scheduled arrivals of 776,000t, the latest import line-up shows. Suppliers will also load cargoes under awards from the Bangladesh private sector tender, but these are set to total 300,000-350,000t up to the end of August. Chinese DAP exports averaged 761,000 t/month in June-August in 2016-19.

DAP price indications firmed slightly to $315-317/t cfr today, from the mid-$310s/t cfr since the second-half of May.